News
Newsletters & Annual Reports
Grants and Awards
Volunteer of the Year 2024
Please join us in congratulating the ACS San Gorgonio Section 2024 Outreach Volunteer of the Year, Dr. Sara Rahimnejad!
Dr. Sara Rahimnejad currently serves the section as Outreach Coordinator. She was appointed to this position because of her extreme enthusiasm and willingness to help with all Section activities and events. She successfully obtained an ACS Science Café grant to organize a public outreach event at the Moreno Valley Public Library. She has also stimulated interest in U.S. National Chemistry Olympiad Program, increasing the number of schools participating for the first time. She is currently working on an event to introduce undergraduate students to the field of Computational Chemistry. We appreciate her service to the section over the years!
General Chemistry Competition Winners
The Mt. San Antonio College Chemistry Department has held its General Chemistry Competition for over 20 years. Current students are invited to form teams to participate in this pub-trivia style event. The ACS San Gorgonio Local Section has regularly sponsored this incredibly fun evening. Participating students are provided with t-shirts that claim “I am a general chemistry genius.” Participants, families and guests enjoy a complimentary dinner. Numbers were drawn for door prizes between rounds of competition. The top 3 teams were presented with gifts cards. Congratulations to the winning team “Doshi Survivors” with their professor and Mt. San Antonio College president Dr. Martha Garcia!
ACS 2024 U.S. Chemistry Olympiad Winners
Wholehearted congratulations to the following three students (and their teachers) whose outstanding performance on the National U.S. Chemistry Olympiad exam them “Honors” recognition!
Fernan Michael Jose Coo Redlands High School Mackensey Farmer
Hadi Faour Claremont High School Carolyn Lee
Yuxi Zhu Diamond Bar High School Jose Marquez
2024 Project SEED Winners
Many thanks to UCR for supporting this program over the years! Any many more thanks to Dr. Dennis Pederson who spearheads this project every year. Congratulations to the two students who have been selected to participate. Here are their projects:
Sarah Okandey Grand Terrace High School
Cobalt Catalysis for the Chemical Synthesis of Medicinally Important Molecules
Working with Dr. Kevin Kuo
Emmanuel Pudussery Riverside STEM Academy
Optical Spectroscopy and Measurements of Air Pollutants
Working with Dr. Jingsong Zhang
ACS SGS Travel Grants
Our Section has approved travel grants (max $750) available for undergraduates presenting at a regional or national ACS meeting. To apply, send your abstract along with the corresponding acceptance letter to Dr. Ana Bahamonde (ana.bahamonde@ucr.edu) to apply.
Volunteer of the Year 2023
Please join us in congratulating the ACS San Gorgonio Section 2023 Outreach Volunteer of the Year, Dr. Michael Nalbandian!
As chair of the San Gorgonio Section's Environmental Improvement Committee, Dr. Michael J. Nalbandian planned the Chemists Celebrate Earth Week community outreach event for the Local Section. Through the efforts of Dr. Nalbandian and that committee, over 190 people enjoyed various bug-themed demos and activities and guided tours of a local botanical garden. In addition to this successful event, Dr. Nalbandian is a consistent outreach volunteer for the section, and he is also a primary contributor to NCW and Olympiad outreach events. He has been a section volunteer since 2019. We appreciate the outreach work he has done for the section over the years!
Volunteer of the Year 2022
Please join us in congratulating the ACS San Gorgonio Section 2022 Outreach Volunteer of the Year, Dr. Ana Bahamonde!
Dr. Ana Bahamonde is an Assistant Professor of Chemistry at UCR. She attended our College & University Professor Mixer in the fall of 2021 and immediately got involved with Section activities. She was instrumental in recruiting over 20 UCR grad students to host several demo tables during our 2021 National Chemistry Week Celebration. Her efforts helped to make the outreach event a massive success, where we were able to show 250 K-8 students, teachers, and parents how fun chemistry can be. Dr. Bahamonde is on the executive board as Alternate Councilor and is the chair of the Women Chemists' Committee for the Section. Thank you, Dr. Bahamonde! We appreciate all you have done for the Section in such a short time, and we look forward to working with you for many years to come!
